We spent the last two days visiting Taroko Gorge in eastern Taiwan. On the first day, we took the train to Hualien and then a bus up the mountain to Tienhsiang. We stayed the night at the youth activity center, which despite its name is more like a hotel than a hostel. True to its name, that night the youth activity center hosted a large collection of youth who spent the night karaokeing and dancing.

The next morning, we woke up early to hike to Baiyan Waterfall, which was sadly closed due to recent rock falls. On the way down the mountain to our next hike, we met two fellow tourists from Germany and Singapore. While our trip has been quite long, theirs are even longer. The German tourist is midway through a 9 month journey. The Singaporean tourist was just starting a 6 month journey. We all got off the bus near Swallow Grotto where we got a great view of the path the river carved through the marble walls of Taroko Gorge. Our next stop was the Changchun Shrine. We tried to hike up the mountain to the shrine, but I was too tired and gave up about halfway up. Instead, we took the bus to visitor center and took a break at the café. After a brief hike, it was time to head back, so we boarded the bus back to Hualien and a train to Taipei.

After an overnight stay in Sydney, we flew to Hong Kong and then to Taipei. From the airport, we took a taxi to an apartment near Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall. Valerie’s mom and aunts are also visiting Taiwan during the same period as us, so we are staying with them.

In the morning, we took the MRT the Maokong Gondola and then rode the gondola to the top of the hill. It was raining a bit, so the view wasn’t great, but we stopped for some delicious Taiwanese street food. Oddly, the Maokong Gondola station and cable cars are decorated with Hello Kitty. According to Wikipedia, Maokong literally translates to “cat empty.” I wonder if those two facts are related. After Maokong, we went to Din Tai Fung and ate a lunch of delicious xiaolong baos.

I’m pleasantly surprised by how affordable and easy mass transit is in Taiwan. All the announcements and signs on the Metro are translated to English. Almost any ride can be paid for using a rechargeable EasyCard. The Taipei MRT only costs around US$0.50 for a short ride.

It’s the end of another cruise. The ship was like a home away from home, but now we’re on our own again. We disembarked around 9pm and boarded the metro into Auckland to pick up a rental car. Our first touristic stop was the Waitomo Caves, which are known for their glowworms. The tour through the cave was an interesting experience. Silently looking up at the cave ceiling from our boat was like looking up at a starry sky. Unlike most tourists, we then drove further along the Waitomo Caves Road to some lesser known touristic stops: a waterfall, a cave, and a lookout point. None of them were particularly amazing, but it was nice to see them since we were already nearby. We stayed the night at a B&B near Lake Taupo where we enjoyed a fine meal of Dominos Pizza.

On our second day, we started by driving to Huka Falls. Huka Falls seems like a bit of a misnomer because the water doesn’t really fall vertically, but rather horizontally as an impressive series of rapids. It’s definitely worth a visit for anyone in the area. Next, we drove to Mount Tongariro. We drove up to the ski resort for the view, but didn’t take the chairlift to the top because it was raining. On the way up, we stopped by the side of the road to look at Mt. Ngauruhoe, known for its role as Mt. Doom in the Lord of the Rings movies. It was getting late, so we didn’t take any of the long famous hikes near the mountain, but instead hiked to a small falls near the visitor center. We stayed the night at a B&B in Te Arona.

On our third and last day in New Zealand, we started the day by heading to the Hobbitton movie set for first tour of the day. The Hobbiton set is surprisingly well maintained for a movie set and is definitely worth the steep admission cost for LotR fans. Next, we drove to the Karangahake Gorge, where we walked along the Window Loop Trail. Unfortunately, the trail was closed part way through due to rock movements. Finally, we returned car to Auckland and boarded our plane to Sydney.